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Ravager's Breadth
The Ravager is the first of three Orcish man-o-wars. These gargantuan battleships were eventually deemed a failure, and all three ships were slated for decommissioning. However, the Ravager managed to be repurposed by the High-Captain Tek'aru before it went under the waves to join her brothers on the sea floor. Origins The Ravager was not constructed in Bilgewater Bay, unlike her sister-ships. Instead, she was constructed in the shipyards at Dragonmaw Port, with both Goblin and Orcish engineering principles in mind. She was launched several weeks before the Fall of Deathwing, and saw her first major action as a gunship in the Fall of Theramore. Under Captain Go'tuk Bloodmane, she became one of the deadliest vessels in the Horde fleet, with a total of thirteen confirmed Alliance warships sunk by her guns. Go'tuk Bloodmane was an esteemed orcish captain, beloved by his crew for both his tenacity, ferocity, and simple leadership. His courage and brashness proved to be his downfall. He altered an order directly from Garrosh Hellscream to dock at the northern port in Jade Forest, and instead, he attempted to assist the besieged defenders of Garrosh'ar Point by breaking the Alliance blockade. He failed and was forced to retreat - and met the Alliance warfleet head on as the Ravager was sailing back to its home port. Batteling for nearly two hours with the Alliance warfleet, the Ravager succumbed to her wounds. Her masts were broken; her gundecks slick with blood and covered in the dead. Rather than risk capture, Go'tuk gave the order to scuttle the ship, but was cut down by grapeshot before he could succeed in blasting a hole below the water line. This behemoth of a warship had proven a terrible and mighty enemy, and Admiral Taylor left it to float empty on the seas, a corpse-filled ghost ship - and a testament to the power of the Alliance navy. The High-Captain had other plans, and ordered the Ravager towed to Stormwind for repairs, refitting, and ultimately, use against the Horde. Damage Recieved The Ravager was heavily beaten as it returned to Stormwind, the rear-most hull completely holed and blown open from the powder stores being exploded. This caused the towing to be extremely tedious and dangerous, as at times, the ship nearly capsized. This problem was quelled as three of the four privateer crafts hauled the vessel from the sides, rather than foremost front. As well, the three masts of the Ravager ''were snapped and splintered, their sails also completely gone. To worsen her shape, the bow of the ''Ravager was mangled and bent, plenty of cannonballs tearing apart her stream-lined ram to the point the frontal armor plates were hanging on - literally - only four bolts. This also caused a speed decrease in the towing, making the calculated two-week voyage take three. To end it's terrible damage was the fact the gundeck was completely blown out and charred, old glames leaving their mark on the floors of the craft. It was brittle, at this point, the timber all but charcoal from the fires. Layout Like most of the Orcish crafts, the Ravager had a standard design of armored hull and wide storing capacity, but differed in many ways at the same time. Unlike her cousins, the vessel was monolithic with nearly five floors of ship. As well, all gun portholes and oar portholes had reinforced steel covering, only openning when an object -- being cannon or oar -- are pushed through the metal doors. They are as followed: #Main deck, where the sailing and boarding was done. #Gun-deck Alpha, housing the first line of 57 guns. #Gun-deck Bravo, housing the second line of 57 guns. #Gun-deck Charlie, housing the third line of 57 guns. #Cargo storage/engine room/barracks The Ravager's height was titanic, the middle of the ram, the inward curve, being the hieght of the tallest Alliance destroyer stern. This meant the ship's own stern was double that of an Alliance destroyer, and it's breadth being that of one-and-a-half skyships. The length of the craft was also double that of a destroyer, clocking in the Ravager at 15,261 tons (15,400t fully loaded + 700man crew). On both starboard and port sides, there were portholes 21" above the waterline, one-hundred each flank, for oarmen. This, including the engine that was located in the bottom of the stern, and the triple masts, gave the Ravager a high speed of twenty-eight knots in full tilt and a good wind. Made to house 342 guns (171 each flank on three floors), the Ravager was not a ship to engage from the sides -- or rear, for that matter. In the stern, just above the Captian's quarters, were two 125mm (standard gun calliber for the Ravager) that fired strictly heat shot. These shots would not only rip through wood, but ignite anything flamable in pitch-fueled flame. In conclusion, the bow of the vessel was also repaired and remade. Sharpened and reinforced, the ramming device was capable of splitting an Alliance destroyer easily if it got in it's way. Propullsion The Ravager has been outfitted with a 13-ton, iron engine (provided by Sun'low in the Firewind Clan) that is stationed in the rear-most bottom of the craft. The device drove a 10-foot propellor, 1400RPM on cruise and 2150RPM on full power. Firing with 10 cylinders, the engine had a daily fuel consumption akin to that of a Skyship, making nearly 31,000SPH. The device was completely made of rigid iron, coated in rust-preventive coating in the event of water damaging the engine. As well, on each side of the''' '''Ravager, would be 100 oarmen driving 12-foot oars. Recently, as well, four auxillary out-board turbines have been fitted to the ship, two on each side of the stern in a staggered formation. Firing on electric current provided by the main engine, these turbines spin a 5-foot propellor to increase spead of the vessel to an amazing thirty-one knots. Defenses The Ravager was made even more safe for the crew with the following: *Ghost Iron hull reinforcment beams: these beams helped make the ravager even sturdier at almost no extra weight, to the point it could run aground and suffer little hull damage. *Ghost Iron hull casing: unlike the cousins of the man-o-war, the craft was fully armored and encased in the metal, nearly six inches thick at it's thinnest point, and eight at it's strongest, the bow. *"Safe" black powder: typical to skyship gunpowder, this substance could only be set off by an explosion from typical black powder, meaning a direct flame will not set off the charge if fire was to hit the powder storage. *Lifeboats and lifeballoons: compeltely rare on all Horde vessels, the craft was equipped with ten lifeboats above the stern of the ship and five balloons on the stern (all of which were encased in steel) in the event of a hull breach. *Flak cannons x30: on the bow and stern would be gnomish flak cannons of 75mm, guided by an A.I and auto-loaded (much like the Ulduar siege engine cannons). In all, the Ravager has been altered immensely from it's original design, but also remained constant in majority design. The craft is apart of the Onyx Airfleet and in current service of the Will of Iron. As well, she is under the command of Halestar Starwood, Tek'aru's mate. Category:Onyx Airfleet Category:Ships Category:Vehicles Category:Steamships Category:New Horde Navy